The mission of Chazen Institute global experiences is to develop future leaders with a global mindset and to expose students to new business cultures, environments and challenges. Global Consulting Projects encourage Columbia Business School MBA students to gain hands-on knowledge of international management by advising a sponsor company on a semester-long global challenge.

How it works

The Chazen Institute sources various projects from across industries. Students are also welcome to propose or source their own opportunities targeting their learning goals and interests.

Students work on projects throughout the  semester as an Independent Study course. Teams of 3-4 students will bring a diverse set of skills and backgrounds to the project.

For the Summer 2020 semester, Chazen is partnering with Citi Ventures Each team is assigned a Citi Mentor/Project Manager who guides and coaches the team.  Applications for summer projects due May 11th. 

Teams will meet virtually or in-person on a weekly basis with their mentor, and then will present their findings and recommendations at the mid-point and end of the semester to senior Citi stakeholders and the sponsors. Expect to spend 7-10 hours per week on each project.

Summer Projects

For the summer semester there are two projects with Citi Ventures Studio, the incubator of Citi Ventures. Studio develops solutions that drive economic vitality for people, businesses and cities.

Project 1: Multi-lateral organizations

Citi Ventures studio is investigating possible short-term and long-term partnership strategies with one or more multi-lateral organizations in order to co-create solutions that have the ability to make a large impact globally. They would like a student team to 1) explore examples where these types of organizations have partnered with the private sector; 2) recommend innovative new ideas on types of partnership (both short term and longer term); 3) Develop a vision and goals for short term and long term partnerships.  

Deliverable:  1)  Analysis comparing/contrasting multilateral organizations; 2) Recommendation of multilateral organizations to partner with (top 3) and associated rational; 3) Ideas for long-term partnership with a focus on co-developing potential solutions

Project 2: Human Capital Index Segmentation

Citi’s Institutional Clients Group: Our clients are top corporations, financial institutions and governments in countries and jurisdictions around the world and our mission is to help them achieve their goals. We do so by providing strategic, financing and operational insights and executing tailored product/service solutions, both across our borders and domestically. The ICG responds to clients' changing needs through its long-established relationship coverage approach that provides client solutions utilizing all of Citi's relevant capabilities, including the broadest possible access to financial markets globally.

They would like a student team to develop a human capital index and be able to segment companies on the basis of this index. This index could include factors such as company’s spend on R&D, STEM careers, industry growth, metropolitan area economic activity, education/skills level of employees, etc.  For example, one hypothesis that could be tested is that companies that have high R&D spend perform better in the long-term; industries with high STEM graduates tend to be more competitive.

We would like students to test different hypotheses related to human capital & company growth in order to understand what factors truly affect company outlook.

Deliverables: 1)Create a Human capital index used to segment companies - What factors to consider and rationalize; 2) Validate the HC Index by conducting an analysis to determine if it identifies top performing firms across various sectors; 3) Recommendations made to ICG as to how segmentation should be carried out and how more focus on human capital will better serve its clients

Eligibility and how to apply

To participate, students must be receiving credit for their projects by working with a faculty member on an Independent Study as per OSA guidelines. Applications are due May 11, 2020 at 12:00 pm. Students should submit a statement of interest and resumes for all team members to chazen@gsb.columbia.edu. Please identify the project you are applying for; you are welcome to apply for more than one and rank your preference.  Students may apply as a team or as an individual. Please note in the application the skill sets each student brings to the project.